This Sunday we had neat discussion in the INSTITUTE about the Old Testament Prophets who told about what the Messiah would be like. Sometimes we get so familiar with the story that we forget how amazing it is.
We looked at 9 different prophecies and they are in the chart below. Check them out:
Isaiah 7:14
Born of a Virgin
Matthew 1:22-23
Isaiah 7:14
Called “Immanuel”
Matthew 1:23
Micah 5:2
The Messiah King will be born in Bethlehem
Matthew 2:4-6
Psalm 72:10, Isaiah 60: 3, 6, 9
Kings will worship and bring gifts
Matthew 2:11
Hosea 11:1
The Messiah will go to Egypt…and be called out
Matthew 2:15
Jeremiah 31:15
The killing of the innocent children around the Messiah’s birth
Matthew 2:17-18
2 Sam 7:11-12, Ps 132:11, Isaiah 9:6, 16:5; Jeremiah 23:5
The Throne of David will be served by the Messiah
Luke 1:31-32
Daniel 2:44, 7:13-14; Micah 4:7
Forever rule of the Messiah
Luke 1:33
Isaiah 11:1
From David’s line a “branch”– a Nazarene
Matthew 2:23
Frankly, it is quite amazing that the prophets hit the nail on the head over the course of so many years. So amazing that to put it in perspective, we talked about an illustration found in Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell:
The following probabilities are taken from Peter Stoner in Science Speaks…Stoner says that by using the modern science of probability in reference to eight prophecies…”we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 1017.” That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.
In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability Stoner illustrates it by supposing that we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.
This means these prophecies were either given by inspiration of God or the prophets just wrote them as they thought they should be. In such a case the prophets had just one chance in 1017 of having them come true in any man, but they all came true in Christ.
Wow does that ramp up my faith! I hope it does yours. I hope it encourages you to talk to others about our Jesus this amazing season!
Press on,
Mike